Tamami Takeda Midori Kasai Yasuko Fukuda Keiko Hatae Sesame seeds were ground for 1-50 min, various amounts of water (12.5-100% (w/w)) were added and the physical properties were examined. The ground sesame seeds with 12.5% added water were the hardest, being even harder than the original seeds. The seeds ground for 1-10 min with 12.5-100% water and those ground for more than 15 min with 100% water were more adhesive than the original seeds. Sesame seeds (=goma) are coarsely ground and some water added to make a dressing in Japan; this dressing is then mixed (=ae) with a cooked vegetable to make the popular dish, “goma-ae.” A positive correlation was observed between the amount of sesame dressing and the hardness.
The oil was separated by centrifugation from ground sesame seeds with 12.5-50% of water, but water also separated with the oil from ground seeds with 75% or more water added. Observation by light microscopy revealed oil droplets dispersed among the particles of sesame seed.

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A simple method was developed for determining γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in rice by using HPLC with fluorescence detection. GABA was extracted with a 75% ethanol solution, and then converted with fluorescamine acetone (3 mg/ml) and a 0.2 M borate-sodium hydroxide buffer solution (pH 9.0). GABA was separated in a reversephase Cosmosil 5 C 18-MS II column (4.6 mm i. d. ×times;25 cm) by using a 30: 70 acetonitrile-0.01 M sodium acetate mixture at pH 6.6 containing 5 mM tetra-n-butylammonium bromide as the mobile phase, and determined by fluorescence detection (excitation at 390 nm, emission at 480 nm). The detection limit was 0.1 μg/ml.
The contents of GABA in brown and milled rice samples (raw and cooked) were then determined by this method. The contents of GABA in Nara-hinohikari, Niigata and Kyoto-koshihikari brown rice samples were in the range of 31-41 μg/g dry weight, while those in well-milled rice samples were 13-18 μg/g dry weight. The GABA content in a half-milled rice sample was higher than that in a well-milled one, and after being cooked, the former was 1.5 times the latter. This result suggests that half-milled rice would be an efficient supply source of GABA in daily foods.

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The effect of vision cutoff on the transfer time of a sample by using chopsticks in the dominant and non-dominant hands was studied in women. A comparison between the vision-free and vision-cutoff conditions in the times for total, net, and regulatory transfer of a sample by the dominant hand was also examined, Under the vision-free condition, the total transfer time for a sample was 3.4 times longer by the non-dominant hand than by the dominant hand. Under the vision-cutoff condition, the total transfer time for a sample was significantly longer by the non-dominant hand than by the dominant hand. The difference in total transfer time of a sample between the nondominant hand and dominant hand under the vision-cutoff condition was 13.4 times longer than that under the visionfree condition. However, there was no significant difference in the net transfer time of a sample between the dominant hand and non-dominant hand under the vision-free and vision-cutoff conditions. These results suggest that the transfer motion of a sample by the non-dominant hand was less regulated than that by the dominant hand, and that this transfer motion of the sample by the non-dominant hand was substantially slowed by vision cutoff.

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Sachiko Ohkita Noriko Hanasaki Yuki Ikeda Taeko Kuragano This study was conducted on female university students to identify their awareness of the effect of eating habits on environmental load reduction. Those students with strong concern about environmental problems tended to show a high degree of awareness of and to practice environmental load reduction when purchasing, preserving, cooking and eating foodstuffs. However, such an awareness of environmental load reduction did not necessarily lead to appropriate dietary behavior. The students with stronger concern about environmental problems tended to be aware of the effect of environmental pollutants on themselves and the next generation. Those students who were conscious of the importance of nutrition when cooking food tended to eat with environmental load reduction in mind. It is therefore important for students to be educated in what causes environmental load in their eating habits and how to reduce it, and also to be informed of the risks of pollutants caused by food. It would thus be effective to link nutrition education with environmental education.

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Undermilled rice produced by milling brown rice to 3-5% was used in this study. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)accumulated when the 3% undermilled rice was incubated with or without glutamic acid at 37°C. GABA-rich boiled rice (30mg/100g fresh weight) was obtained by pre-heating the 3% undermilled rice with 2 mmol/l of glutamic acid at 37°C for 8 hours, before normal rice cooking. The GABA content of boiled rice was limited to 16.7mg/100g fw without adding glutamic acid. The growth capability of bacteria in 3% under milled rice was investigated by a 3 M Petrifilm, and over 20 hours were needed until the first bacterial colony appeared.

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Kumiko Iijima Fumiko Konishi Sonoko Ayabe Tomoko Murakami Midori Kasai Keiko Hatae Masako Konishi A questionnaire survey was made on the regional variation of the eating babit of nabemono in Japan (casserolecooked food). Questionnaires were sent to students and staff of universities and colleges in many regions of Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa in December 2002, and 1013 responses were collected in January 2003. The results show that 60 kinds of nabemono are often eaten by a family at home. Among these, sukiyaki is the most preferred followed by yosenabe and kimuchi-nabe. In respect of regional variation, kimuchi-nabe is most popular in Tohoku, while oden is preferred in Kyushu. Tofu is commonly used as an ingredient of almost all nabemono, even in oden, while hakusai is also popular, except in oden. The frequency of eating nabemono is once or twice a month for the largest number of respondents. Forty two % of the respondents drink alcohol with nabemono, beer is the most popular, followed by shochu and sake.

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A questionnaire survey was conducted on college students' families in the Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions to clarify how spices are used for home cooking in Japan. Among the 28 spices investigated, the frequency of use of ginger, pepper, sesame, wasabi and onion was very high. Most of the spices often used had a sharp or hot tasting effect. There were regional differences in the use of perilla, celery, basil and laurel (p <0.001), their uses being particularly high in the Kanto region. Japanese-style dishes in which many spices were used were sashimi, hiyayakko (chilled tofu), stir-fried meat and vegetables, and udon (Japanese noodles). The western-style dishes in which many spices were used were curry and rice, hamburgers and stew, this also being the case for Chinese noodles and gyoza (Chinese meat dumplings). The most common combinations of spice and dish were wasabi for sashimi, mustard for oden (Japanese pot-au-feu) and ginger for boiled fish.

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A survey was made among 209 households in Hiroshima prefecture of the methods used preserve vegetables by salting. Of the 74% who make hiroshimana, short-or medium-term salting is practiced in most of Hiroshima prefecture, while long-term salting is more common in mountain areas, mid-highlands and the eastern plateau of Hiroshima prefecture. The process of salting consists of collecting hiroshimana vegetables, airing, conditioning, washing, water dripping, lightly salting, and finally salting again with salt and red pepper. The process could be classified into seven types of short-and medium-term salting “(148 cases) and eight types of long-term salting (57cases)”.

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The major components and trace elements in 13 bittern products were measured. The total salt concentration ranged from 26.75% to 31.31%, showing little difference between bittern samples. However, there were large concentration differences of Mg and NaCl between samples. The contents of Mo and B were in proportion to their concentrations in seawater. Some samples also had high concentrations of Zn, Cu, Ni, Fe and Mn, indicating sources other than seawater alone. No difference in quality between bittern samples from deep seawater and other seawater sources was apparent.

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